g the execution complied (the
Scottish Presbyterians were great psalm-singers in those days), and it
was well for him he did so, for they had sung it half through before the
reprieve came. Any other psalm would certainly have hanged him! Cotton,
in his _Virgil Travestie_, thus alludes to the custom of psalm-singing
at the foot of the gallows:

Ready, when Dido gave the word,
To be advanced into the halter,
Without the benefit on's Psalter.

* * * * *

Then 'cause she would, to part the sweeter,
A portion have of Hopkins' metre,
As people use at execution,
For the decorum of conclusion,
Being too sad to sing, she says.[157]

[157] _Scarronides; or, Virgil Travestie_, etc., by Charles
Cotton, Book iv. _Poetical Works_, 5th edition, London,
1765, pp. 122, 140.

If the clergy in medieval times had, as they are said to have had, all
the learning among themselves, what a blessed state of ignorance must
the laity have been in! And so, indeed, it appears, for there is extant
an old Act of Parliament which provides that a nobleman shall be
entitled to the "benefit of clergy," even though he could not read. And
another law sets forth that "the command of the sheriff to his officer
by word of mouth, and without writing is good; for it may be that
neither the sheriff nor his officer can write or read!" Many charters
are preserved to which persons of great dignity, even kings, have
affixed the sign of the cross, because they were not able to write their
names, and hence the term of _signing_, instead of subscribing. In this
respect a ten-year-old Board School boy in these "double-distilled" days
is vastly superior to the most renowned of the "barons bold."

THE BEARDS OF OUR FATHERS.

'Tis merry in the hall when beards wag all.--_Old Song_.

Among the harmless foibles of adolescence which contribute to the quiet
amusement of folks of mature years is the eager desire of youths to have
their smooth faces adorned with that "noble" distinction of manhood--a
beard. And no wonder. For, should a clever lad, getting out of his
"teens," venture to express opinions contrary to those of his elders
present, is he not at once snubbed by being called "a beardless boy"? A
boy! Bitter taunt! He very naturally feels that he is grossly insulted,
and all because his "dimpled chin never has known the barber's shear."
Full well does our ingenuous youth know that a man